In a world that is always seeking more information, especially when it pertains to anticipated video games, Emil Pagliarulo, Studio Design Director at Bethesda Studios, has found himself in a paradox of sorts.
If you have anything to ask anyone at Bethesda that’s related to Starfield, you’ll want to ask Todd Howard.
The Starfield hype is real and its fans have been peppering Pagliarulo with queries about the upcoming game, which is very understandable when you’re as high up on the ladder as he is. But, as tantalizing as it would be to satisfy everyone with all of their questions and curiosity, he, like any professional, is bound by a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). This leaves him, in his own words, unable to “spill the space beans on Starfield.”
So, Pagliarulo did what any awesome individual would do: tell everyone to take a hike in the nicest way possible.
🧵(1/2) I know this isn’t what any @StarfieldGame fan wants to hear from me, but I feel like I need to make this clear: no one other than Todd Howard himself is authorized to talk publicly about unreleased game info. That’s the job of of our PR/marketing/community folks.
— Emil Pagliarulo (@Dezinuh) July 13, 2023
As both anticipation and online probing about Starfield have reached a fever pitch, Pagliarulo took to Twitter to address the fans directly. He clarified that he’s not permitted to publicly discuss unreleased game information. The only individual with the authority to do so is Todd Howard, the Bethesda boss. “I know this isn’t what any [Starfield] fan wants to hear from me,” he wrote, adding, “I am SO humbled by your anticipation of Starfield. Seriously. It’s mind-boggling to me. So it really does pain me to say that I simply CAN’T answer 99% of your questions.”
Pagliarulo’s frank and courteous response reveals the dual pressure he faces. On one hand, just like us, he’s enthusiastic about the project that he’s working on. But, he’s not allowed to talk about it, forced to maintain professional decorum and to adhere to his NDA.
Then again, one way of taking Pagliarulo’s words is that he’s telling all of us to go and ask Todd Howard.
In any case, Pagliarulo’s approach hasn’t gone without appreciation from the Starfield community. The fact of the matter is that he didn’t really have to be seen nice about all the questions he was getting. But, with what he did, Pagliarulo earned a lot of fans and got Starfield some goodwill, which is necessary after the negative press that AMD attracted to it recently.
Then again, Pagliarulo must have learned from his previous brush with fan discontent. In the past, he’s weathered criticism from the Fallout community, particularly after a talk he gave on Fallout 4 and Skyrim, where he served as writer and lead designer. In this light, his patient, polite Twitter thread in response to the Starfield inquiries seems not only civil but downright heroic.
The notion that only Todd Howard can legally divulge new information is intriguing, but in truth, this is actually standard in the industry. Several large enterprises, including software companies, have strict policies in place barring employees from commenting on any company information or in-development work that isn’t already publicly released. Instead, they direct all inquiries to their PR department. It may be a frustrating reality for fans, but it’s an essential part of maintaining the integrity and suspense that often accompanies the release of much-anticipated games like Starfield.
It seems that, for now, the Starfield community will have to be content with speculation and the occasional breadcrumbs of information thrown by Todd Howard. But perhaps it’s for the best. Discovering the mysteries of Bethesda’s games for oneself is half the magic of playing them.
Of course, if you insist about finding out more about Starfield, you can always check out this fan-made compendium.
Starfield is easily one of this year’s most highly anticipated games. But, in a year that’s also filled with GOTY contenders led by The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Final Fantasy 16, anything short of perfection won’t be enough at all. Further mounting the pressure for Starfield is the fact that Bethesda admitted it delayed The Elder Scrolls VI to work on the open-world space RPG. Given that the next The Elder Scrolls game isn’t set to come out until 2026, at the earliest, Starfield better be good enough to tide audiences over for at least three years.
